tribute # 154 - T

scammers are grand so long as you know sidesteps. he disappeared or had injuries rear if there was work to be done, but could be equally reliable about latest news, a little torqued but probably somewhat true, and amusingly told.

tribute # 153 - Steadman's clerk

when mom marched me back
to apologize and hand over
the stolen marbles over whining
"but they're lost. no one wanted them"
(dust-covered under shelving)

the clerk looked stern, but tempered gaze
assured she wouldn't hate me.

(Sally-Ann's manager now)

collective # 22 - thanks litterers

on family walks we'd play:
spy the beer bottle.
whoever spotted first got
the 5 cents. dad kept tabs.

mom spotted the cloth,
investigated -- mother lode
of cutlery. she sterilized them
doubled inventory from
grab lots at auctions, yard sales.

anecdote #76 (double length) - straight man

he put her "back together again"
break up after next, for 10 years.
each time wouldn't interfere;
it'd be crass, wrong timing
then she'd rebound

to someone else. (zut.)
round four she declared herself
"unlovable". he disagreed, said
"I love you." she said, "no,
I mean lovable *that* way."

"yes". he said.

"but you never date women.

you're gay."

"no, I've been waiting, for you."

"but you're my gay friend!"


wonder what happened eventually.

candor -- the damaging policy?
truth's inevitable?

anecdote #75 - Lesson of A.

told him of "Feelings". he took it
as opportunity, or proposition.

she explained she'd expected a response
like: yep, I've noticed, child; I've been
ignoring that. or oh! well that makes
you make sense. we can sidestep.

unpack presumptions thoroughly.

anecdote #74 - lunchroom lady (mid-90s)

(double-take.)
"what? apples are an arbitrary size.
why should I have to eat a whole one?"
she packed up the remaining quarter.
"my stomach's one size."

no rule of finish all dishes always.

yes, unless portions are skimpy
family rounds.

anecdote #71 - novelist unknown

the novel had blasphemy
drug trades, motorcycles,

violence and bad writing
-- I burnt it and I Ching

in the woodstove. could
certainly conscionably

rid world of these copies.
I'm contrite 25 years later

understand my mom's
disapproving horror

non-interfering hands

anecdote #70 - dime spinner

whoever left signal money
on the inside window ledge

was communicating.
didn't break the code.

in the abandoned house
I avoided intersecting anyone.

syringes, condoms, parties
broken bottles, furniture.

the squatter of the machine shed
reader of classics.

me, hightailing days.

tribute # 152 - Peter

threw innuendo at me. sidekick snorted.
I shrank, presumed they were mocking me

preppy, swim team, urban, rich class.
in high school me, bible freak, poor, geek

a friend, years later said
obviously, he had a crush on me. boy.

anecdote #69 - gown (1993)

the name in marker, Boy found icky --
implicit invitation in wearing the dead's clothes

recoiled his touch from the material
on my shoulder.
                   sumptuous, comfortable,

gave it away.
later he asked after it. "it looked nice".

arrrrrrrg.
      resolve: non-budging pleasures.

anecdote #68 (half length) - Al

dislodged something freeing
with his offhand, facetious, truth

god sure is lousy at this killing-you-thing
twenty years. he still misses

tribute # 151 - Stasha

Her Dogged Pursuit resonates -
parallels of grandparent
and dad, fundamentalist roots.

contemplating underpinnings
origins of habits reconciling pasts, progress

Cohorts coming into our own powers,
wishy-washy about me? revile? praise?
y'okaybut shrug you all;
emotionally invest in support?
unaffordable luxury.

tribute # 150 - Sandra H (1996? 1997?)

right after she gave birth
to her first poem ever
I was called to witness
her Wonder: how did that happen??
it fell out of me. a poem.
it was one, wasn't it?!
would it happen again??

(Reiki master now.)

tribute # 149 - Amma

Marketing engines, coughing behind word-of-mouth, can't negate the Hugging Saint who's given energy to, reportedly, 24 million. Self-effacing, agape as career, she's a humanitarian relief figurehead. Amma has an Oprah-like empire. In a Pythonesque twist, Kali's avatar's become a guru.

anecdote #67 - Monk

years together now.

as tourists walk glaze-eyed:
stone, stone, rubble, rubble, stone
kid:daddy, what's that woman doing with the doll?

an ice-breaker for absurdity

to shadow-puppet something out of myself
now with his own blog
and developing life-story.

collective # 21 - after school TV special

I showered in swimming suit, changed without showing skin.
never naked, even alone --mom burst in my my bath and bedroom.

self-consciousness sky-rocketed

-- teenage boys in the program got summer work
monitoring for shoplifters behind two-way glass in change rooms.